Education Community

Rajasthan Royals and INSEAD are launching a new and unique blend of leadership development courses. One of the key highlights of this course will be that the learner can see Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson and Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara delivering exclusive masterclasses on leadership through reflections into their experience at the highest level of competitiveness in sports. This program has been launched online, jointly by Rajasthan Royals and INSEAD; the program will be called ‘Leadership and Performance.’ The registration for this course is open and will go on till November 10, 2021. Earlier this month, Rajasthan Royals also set up India’s Leading sports and sports-allied professional education platform, the Royals School of Business. Source: theindianexpress.com

The Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) 2021 online registration process has started on the official website, the link for which is ctet.nic.in. The last date to fill out the online form for CBSE CTET 2021 is October 19. The Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE, will conduct the 15th edition of Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) in CBT (Computer Based Test) mode from December 16, 2021 to January 13, 2022 (exact date will be intimated on the admit card of the candidate). Further, CTET will be conducted in 20 languages throughout the country. CTET 2021: Education qualification required: The persons possessing minimum qualifications for the teaching staff in accordance with the following are eligible for appearing in the CTET: National Council for Teacher Education (Determination of Minimum Qualifications for Persons to be recruited as Education Teachers and Physical Education Teachers in Pre-Primary, Primary, Upper Primary, Secondary, Senior Secondary or Intermediate Schools or Colleges) Regulations as amended and notified from time to time. Minimum qualifications laid down in the Recruitment Rules for the teachers by the Appropriate Government where the school is situated or the Recruitment Rules for the teachers of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangthan or Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti. The candidate should satisfy his/her eligibility before applying and shall be personally responsible in case he/she is not eligible to apply as per the given eligibility criteria. It is to be noted that if a candidate has been allowed to appear in the Central Teacher Eligibility Test, it does not imply that the candidate’s eligibility has been verified. It does not vest any right with the candidate for appointment. The eligibility shall be finally verified by the concerned recruiting agency / appointing authority. CBSE CTET: How to apply STEP 1: Log on to CTET official website ctet.nic.in. STEP 2: Go to the link “Apply Online” and open the same. STEP 3: Fill in the online application form and note down the registration number/application number. STEP 4: Upload scanned Images of latest Photograph and Signature. STEP 5: Pay the examination fee by e-challenge or debit/credit card and net banking. STEP 6: Print Confirmation page for records and future reference. Source: The article has been published by India Today.

Looking at the pace of the education sector, one can easily say that every year has been the year of education so far. However, the result doesn’t match up with the expectations so far, so well. If we look back, it can be seen evidently that every new technological turning point was relatable to bring in a better change or revolution in education. Be it; radio coming into existence for the first time, Television innovation, or computer entry in people’s life. At present, all the expectations for a significant change in education are dependable on the internet. It is not to be forgotten that education is a fundamental need of all, and something that has to be made available on such a large scale takes time for “disruption.” With the internet, disruption of education has become easy. A lot of good content is available on the internet free of cost and quickly disrupting education. Although, a massive set of public confuses good content with an education company. We all agree education is a lot about the outcomes and learning experiences. On a positive note, we can see many ed-tech companies in India working with good intentions keeping up the spirit of ed-tech trends. A few more themes have been developed in the education sector as the ed-tech market is ruling the trends. A clear theme shift from content access to outcome access can be noticed. Companies now look forward to pouring more attention on strong handholding, leading to precise results for learners. Quality has become a topmost priority than ever before. Not just on an overall basis, but this trend can be seen in various sub-sectors of education. Especially in the professional education space, strong focus by companies is done on jobs and careers outcomes. A strong push towards creating a better distribution channel is being done so far—Companies are on for leveraging offline media for customer acquisition. Byju’s and Toppr are other great examples of the services of home-to-home counseling. Now education is no longer an event but a continuous process as a theme in the ed-tech era. This is more suitable when it comes to professional education space. Earlier education was though to barred with age barrier, once a person crossed 25-30 years continuing education from him/her was not considered a good thing. The rapid changes in education with EdTech approaching so fast. We can see a fast-pacing trend. Constantly learning to improve your professional knowledge through education is become more acceptable and admiring criteria. Education was said to be one of the greatest businesses that never goes out of fashion no matter what. Today new EdTech companies with their latest technical education services are not just providing premium education at your doorsteps. It is also breaking the pricing criteria making education more accessible and price friendly.

The last date for JEE Advanced 2021 application process has been extended till September 21, 11:59 pm. The registration process for the exam began on September 15, 2021. Candidates can register on the official website – jeeadv.ac.in. The last date for fee payment is September 21, 11:59 pm. A fee of Rs 2800 will be applicable. For females and reserved category candidates, the application fee is Rs 1400. This year, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur will conduct the JEE Advanced 2021 exam on October 3. “Candidates who are not able to upload a valid category certificate (for all categories) during registration, can upload a self-declaration in lieu of the same, and must upload the valid certificate at the time of reporting during JoSAA.” the official website reads. JEE Advanced 2021: How to apply Step 1: Visit the official website jeeadv.ac.in Step 2: Click on the registration link Step 3: Enter your details in the fields provided Step 4: Pay the registration fees Step 5: Click submit JEE Advanced will consist of two question papers: paper 1 and paper 2 of three hours duration each. Both papers are compulsory. Each question paper will consist of three separate sections – physics, chemistry, and mathematics. It will be held in a computer-based test (CBT) mode. The total duration of each paper will be for three hours. Candidates who qualified for JEE Advanced 2020 but remained absent due to COVID-19 or associated reasons will be allowed to appear for JEE Advanced 2021 directly, without having to take the JEE Main 2021 exam. Source: The news has been published by the Indian Express News Network.

A new class of superhydrophobic cotton composites with Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) that promise marine oil-spill clean-up in near future.   GUWAHATI, 20th September 2021: Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Researchers have developed a novel highly porous and water repellent superhydrophobic cotton composite material containing Metal-Organic Framework (MOF), which can absorb oil selectively from oil-water mixture.   The MOF composite has great capability for selective separation of the oils from oil/water mixtures, and the separation efficiency lies between 95% and 98%, irrespective of the chemical composition and density of the oils. Besides, the MOF composite is also able to absorb large volumes of oils and can be reused for minimum 10 times so that the sorbents can provide more recovery of the spilled oil.   The practical applications of this Research include Cleaning the spilled oil from environmental water (river, sea or ocean water) during oil transportation with high efficiency and large absorption capacity, thus reducing environmental water pollution Both heavy and light oils can be effectively absorbed by the material The material is easy to prepare, cost-effective and recyclable   The research team was led by Dr. Shyam P. Biswas, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry. IIT Guwahati. The results of this pathbreaking work have recently been published in the reputed peer-reviewed journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.0c21337)”, belonging to American Chemical Society.   Explaining the motive of the research, Dr. Shyam P. Biswas, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, said, “In our work, we focused on a real problem in environmental water pollution in current time. Our goal was to develop a new material which could be synthesized easily and should be cost effective. We have grown our new MOF material on the surface of medical cotton, which is environment friendly and cost effective. Such low-cost material will reduce the production cost of the material for large scale industrial synthesis for real applications, compared to currently available materials in the market”.   Further, elaborating on how this research will benefit the country, Dr. Shyam P. Biswas said, “In a vast country like India where petroleum hydrocarbons are the major sources of fuel, accidental oil spills occur frequently here during transportation and storage of oils. The material developed in our laboratory will certainly be beneficial to reduce the environmental water pollution by efficiently absorbing the spilled oil from environmental water.”   In the petroleum industry, oil leakage and oil spill accidents happen frequently during offshore oil exploitation and oil transportation. This severe water contamination threatens the health of human beings including other living species. Therefore, the treatment of industrial oily wastewater and the separation of oil spill from water has become a worldwide challenging task.   To overcome this problem, the IIT Guwahati researchers have synthesized a superhydrophobic MOF composite with cotton to absorb oil selectively from water. MOFs are a class of compounds containing of metal ions coordinated to organic ligands to form 3D structures, with the special feature that they are often highly porous materials that act like a sponge.   The team led by Dr. Biswas initially developed a superhydrophobic MOF which can repel the water and float on the water surface. Then, they grew the same MOF on the surface of medical cotton. It was observed that the medial cotton changes from hydrophilic to superhydrophobic material and can float on the water surface. The MOF-coated cotton fiber composite showed water repellence with a water contact angle (WCA) of 163°.   The flexible superhydrophobic MOF composite showed an oil absorption capacity more than 2500 wt%. Motor oil, kerosene and gasoline were used by the team in this study to investigate the real-life potential of the material for oil-spill clean-up. The research team has also demonstrated the separation of oil from oil/water mixture by simple gravity-directed filtration and also collection of underwater oil against gravity.   The growing environmental pollution is a serious threat to our society for sustainable development. Among the various environmental problems, water pollution is one of the serious issues in India. Until now, petroleum hydrocarbon products are the main energy sources in the world.

Asper the orders by The Supreme Court, every admission into all the government and private medical colleges should be made through a centralized counseling system based on the NEET examination results. Keeping this in mind, Delhi HC said, “Many students burn the oil day and night working hard to get into the educational institution based on merit. Therefore, our moral duty is to ensure that there is no backdoor entry for admissions in any institutions, including medical colleges”. This observation by the highcourt came into the limelight whiledismissing an appeal made by five students who were granted admissions in 2016 by LN Medical College Hospital and Research Center, Bhopal, without centralized counseling conducted by the Department of Medical examination. Henceforth, the Medical Council of India issued a dismissal letter regarding these five petitioners in April 2017. Afterward, a lot of communications were also sent, but neither the students nor the institution paid attention. Source: theindianexpress.com

For a long time, women’s rights and gender equality have remained the most discussed topics in the world. Though women have a lot of freedom in different ways but have we noticed any monumental changes? The answer to that is yes.   Throughout the years, women have achieved what they had been manifesting for a long time. Some of the highlighted rights they demand include freedom from sexual violence, the allowance to hold public office and equal rights in family laws. So far, the response and support they’ve received are somewhat pleasing, but often it is associated with bias.   Firstly, we will look at the learning levels between the two genders. Throughout the learning levels between genders, gender equality is prominent. The National Achievement Survey (2017) was amongst the most trustworthy surveys conducted on a national level. They experimented on over 22 Lakh elementary students that comprised of boys and girls. The result was astounding. It clearly showed that the learning levels of boys and girls were indeed similar. We can conclude this if we consider average scores in Mathematics of girls and boys from Class 3 and 5, it is the same at 63 and 53. This conclusion also applies to Class 10 students where the grade difference between the two genders does not make it up to one per cent. However, a positive result is not always evident.   Even though the number of girls approaching education has increased over the past two decades, the count of girls who achieve attainment in education is still not appreciable. The number of girls enrolling for elementary and secondary education at the crucial stages of a child’s complete development has tripled from just 1.7 years in 1990 to 4.7 in 2018. Boys are also moving closer to completing their education. However, according to observations, many girls prefer not to continue their education after completing secondary education.   The latest Annual Status of Education Report “Early Years” proves that parents tend to invest more money for the graduation of their sons from private colleges with high fees. Whereas, parents often encourage their daughters to graduate from government facilities where the fees required to pay is negligible when compared to private facilities.   In the present world, artificial intelligence is replacing humans. But we still haven’t learnt to respect women and appreciate their presence in a highly male-dominated society.

The Lok Sabha MP Kuldeep Rai Sharma for the constituency Andaman and Nicobar Island has recently requested to fill all the vacant positions of principal, vice-principal, headmaster, and teachers in the government schools situated within the union territory. The Congress MP made this demand while he met the Director of Education Department Administration; he had asked to fill up all the vacant posts in the government schools on the island. Rai mentioned that almost all the schools are running without a principal and vice-principal, and headmaster, which negatively impacts the education system and affects the school management. Source: thetimesofindia.com

The ICFAI School of Architecture a constituent of the ICFAI Foundation of Higher Education (IFHE) deemed University signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the prestigious Italian University Politecnico Di Milano (Ranked No. 1 in Italy by QS) on August 23, 2021. The MoU was signed virtually. Dr. J Mahender Reddy, Vice Chancellor – IFHE said that “The agreement with the renowned institution like Politecnico Di Milano which is more than 150 yrs old is a great value addition and it will enhance the research activities of the faculty of the ICFAI School of Architecture (ISarch)”. Prof. Matteo Poli, DASTu, Politecnico Di Milano in his statement said, “The MoU will be the basis of several exchanges for students and professors of India and Italy, Milano and Hyderabad on architecture, landscape and urban design”. Highlights of the MoU:   To co-operate in conduct of seminars, courses, workshops, summer schools, internships and other research activities; To organize meetings, lectures etc., to share the knowledge and experience; To enable the exchange of teachers, researchers and students.   Ms. Varshini Varanasi, Visiting Faculty of ISarch and a former student of Milano, and Dr. Massimo Vianello, Advisor at ICFAI School of Architecture actively coordinated with the authorities in Italy for the successful completion of this MoU. About Politecnico Di Milano: Politecnico Di Milano is a scientific-technological University established in the year 1863 trains engineers, architects and industrial designers. The University has seven locations across Italy with over 47,000 students enrolled in this academic year. The University is adjudged No.1 in Italy by the latest rankings released by QS Agency (updated as on June 2021). The University has always focused on the quality and innovation of its teaching and research, developing a fruitful relationship with business and productive world by means of experimental research and technological transfer. Politecnico was one of the first Italian universities to implement the reform of the university system, which led to the “three plus two” education structure with Bachelor of Science and Master of Science programmes. Since the academic year 2000-2001 the institution has also set up a bachelor’s programme in Computer Engineering online, the first of its kind in Italy. About ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE):   The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE) is Deemed-to-be University under section 3 of the UGC Act 1956. ICFAI Business School (IBS) is a constituent of IFHE. About five thousand eight hundred students are pursuing various programs in the Faculty of Management (ICFAI Business School), Faculty of Science & Technology (IcfaiTech), Faculty of Law (ICFAI Law School) and ICFAI School of Architecture, NAAC, an autonomous institute of University Grants Commission has also accredited The University with ‘A+’ Grade with an impressive score (institutional CGPA) of 3.43 out of 4.  To suit the present day competitive environment, IFHE has a mission to create entrepreneurs capable of contributing to different fields of business and management.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has announced the admit card for the civil services exam that is going to be conducted in the year 2021. The candidates applying for the exam can check their respective admit cards from the website, ‘upsc.gov.in.’ The last date to download the admit card is October 10. The admit card is a must for verification purposes and without it, the candidate will not be allowed to apply for the exam. The admit card will be a compilation of the applicants photo, name, roll number, registration ID, year of exam and SOP. Steps To Download Your Admit Card Step 1: Visit the official website, upsc.gov.in Step 2: Click on the link in the ‘what’s new’ section Step 3: Log-in using credentials Step 4: Admit card will appear, download Important Instruction to Follow On Campus Candidates need to enter the exam venue 10 minutes prior to the scheduled commencement of the exam, which is 9:20 AM for the forenoon session and 2:20 PM for the afternoon session. Note: All candidates will be denied entry after the closure of the entry gates. Only the use of ordinary watches is allowed in the exam hall. The use of smart watches or any other watch that has a communication device embedded is strictly prohibited. Applicants to also note that while appearing for the exam, only the use of black ball point pen is permitted. Any answers marked with a pen of a different colour, will not be accepted. Source: NEWS 18